Farmers will have to do more to claim their scheme payments from next year after the European Commission stated that Ireland’s draft CAP strategic plan does not go far enough in addressing environmental issues.

The Commission said that many of the proposed agri-environmental measures in the plan could either be reached by many farmers with their current farming practices or are too close to the mandatory farming requirements of the new CAP.

The environmental targets included in the plan were also said to be lacking ambition.

Ireland has also been asked to produce further evidence that it considered the impact of dairy expansion on water quality, emissions and biodiversity loss from 2023 onwards when drafting the plan.

The Commission asked that Ireland “better explain how the shift towards healthy, more plant-based and sustainable diets will be achieved”.